


Swift

by TheRussetFoxAdventures



Category: Furry (Fandom)
Genre: F/M, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-30
Updated: 2020-01-12
Packaged: 2021-01-13 05:20:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 5,965
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21238823
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheRussetFoxAdventures/pseuds/TheRussetFoxAdventures
Summary: She volunteered herself for something she assumed, would give her some food money. She never expected to wake up in another world, on the run and somehow, a person with a tail, paws and other things a human shouldn't have. And now, they want their creation back.





	1. Last Flight Somewhere

November 2015

Her seat vibrated as the plane shook through the slight turbulence that would have startled her as she barely noticed others around her occasionally complaining.

"Please fasten your seat belts as..."

She took little notice of anything outside of her sister's response to her text.

Nayssan: You're an adult. Figure it out.

Nicole: I just need a place to put my stuff and sleep until I find a job. It shouldn't take me that long. I'll eat whatever you make and I can help you clean the house. Hell, I worked with kids for 2 decades. I can care for your baby.

Nayssan: You're 33 aren you? You're an adult.

Nicole: I have nowhere to go. I gave up everything for her. 

Nayssan: I'm sorry.

"You may now depart. Thank you for flying..."

Nicole: She was your mother to. Where were you when she needed her family? Now you're going to give up on your only living blood relative? You're you're going to leave me on the street to die?

She waited. No response. From besides her, people grabbed their baggage from the luggage compartment and slowly departed in a decent manor, some managing to be rowdy while most quietly walked like civilized people.

She looked back at her phone and noticed nothing. There would be no response. When her mother died, so did all the compassion her sister had once had for her. 

Pov: mom always said not to trust her. And what did I do? I told mom that she was crazy. Shows what I know.

When the isle was clear, Nicole got off the plane, pulling behind her, a small rolling suitcase that contained her clothes, phone charger and a few things she had to remember her mother with.

The walk through the airport was an unusual drift through a sea of people that spoke in words she should have understood but all she heard was jibrish.

***

April 2013

Nicole watched as her mother sifted through dozens upon dozens of movies, turning around every few seconds to give her an angry look.

She knew her mother's eyes but didn't recognize her face. The emergency surgery had left only the eyes she had known all her life, and nothing more. 

The woman who had been the living vessel of an eternal goddess, was now frail beyond words, as her muscle mass had melted away, to reveal mostly bones.

Her face was the most changed as her lower jaw had been removed and a makeshift jaw was built using the fibula bone of her left leg. 

POV her tongue...I wonder if she feels it or does it just hang out of her open mouth...can her mouth ever close?...

"Hold this." Her mother handed her a stack of movies. A glance at the stack in her hands, revealed a few names she recognized.

Pov the lion king... I remember when we saw it in theaters. I cried when the lion died. Mom took my hand in that dark theater and...that smell...what is it? I've never smelled it before...like...

***

November 2015

Unsure of when or how she made it out of the airport, Nicole was greeted by a spine tingling evening breeze that made her dive rather hastily into her little travel bag, in hopes of finding her jacket. 

What she pulled out from below her shirts and shorts, was a black leather jacket that had a picture of yellow stone national park on the back.

POV it was moms. 

Her mother's voice came to her alongside the chili breeze. 

"I forgot to give it to you baby. Take care of it ok? You look great in it."

She slipped it on and began walking with her rolling bag. Nobody noticed this unusually small human being walking by the side of a busy highway. 

Everyone drove on, probably home to the loving embrace of a family waiting with a warm dinner.

She needed food and dreaded the thought of how she was going to get it.

***

April 2013

Death....if death had a smell, this was it. Her mother had always smelled of sweet perfumes but now...her body was being eaten away by its own carnivorous cells.

"Where is my favorite movie? The one with Kevin costner?"

"I don't know. We have looked everywhere!" Nicole didn't mean to yell but after nearly an hour of rummaging through the shelves of movies and not finding the movie her mother wanted, all she wanted was some of her mother's morphine to knock her headache, and herself, out for the night.

"Dammit, you kids have destroyed me!"

The damn of emotions she had never been able to hold back all her life, broke as always.

"I came back to help you and you complain over a stupid movie?! I don't touch your stupid stuff!"

The frail denergized woman in front of her, too weak to even walk without a walker, managed to stand and nicole suddenly felt a stinging pain on her left side.

The burning sensation in her left cheek was evidence, that her mother had slapped her blind side, and not lightly.

All the chemo on earth couldn't take away her mother's brute strenght, but nicole refused to acknowledge the pain in her face. She kept her eyes locked fiercely on her mothers, as if looking away could result in death.

"I came back only because nayssan told me to."

***

November 2015

She found a small bench where she was able to lay down but upon putting her back down, she was jolted up by how cold the stone bench was on her jacket covered back.

Pov Thank God I have mom's jacket. Too tired to try and find food. Maybe I'll just lay here...

She put her travel bag under her head and began to drift away.

POV I came back for you mom. Not for nayssan. I'm sorry. So so sorry. I wish I had told you. We where just so bad together...

Though her eyes where closed, they stung from the pain of her tears. All she wanted was her mother at that moment.

***

April 2013

Nicole didn't know how long they had been fighting but when her mother collapsed and held onto the edge of the table with what little strength she had, nicole rushed to the women's side and tried to help her to her bed, despite her mother's resistance. 

"You need to relax. I'll bring you your tablet. Watch a movie in bed. Forget the tv for now."

The resistance stopped and the weakened woman began to walk alongside Nicole, towards the master bedroom.

Once she had her mother safely in bed and her mother's tablet ready, she was surprised to see her mother's eyes locked onto hers and not the movie. 

"I'm sorry baby. Mommy is so sorry. I'm in so much pain. Mommy was never like this. Your father...I'm living the nightmare he began."

Tears begged to fall from her mother's eyes but for some reason, they didn't. But then...they never did. Not even when her own beloved father and little brother died.

She wanted to hug her poor mother but couldn't. Why not?


	2. Now Departing

November 2015

The sounds of rushing cars lulled her to sleep but the thought of sleeping on a bench, within the range of rapists and thieves, kept her from going into deep sleep.

POV what's that?!

She sat up faster then her body could adjust and she fell off the bench, as motion sickness caused reality to spin like a merry go round. 

When the world stopped spinning, she realised her palms where on the dirty sidewalk, where cigarette butts, oil stains and god knows what she couldn't see, was spread as far as the eyes can see.

POV Santa ana....this must be hell for not getting along with mom. Disgusting, dirty hell.

***

December 2015

Days, weeks, maybe years, she didn't know. Even if her phone was charged, nicole was trapped in the past, nearly unaware of the passing time.

The days just melted into washed out winter skies, as the cold bitter wind kept her up walking most of the nights and too scared of thugs, to sleep even during the day.

No matter how much she washed her hands in any drinking fountain or public bathroom, she still felt the blood, her mother's blood, sticking to her....and then, there was the weight...

She occasionally napped behind bushes when the sun was overhead, as visions of the past meandered through her mind like a slow moving train hauling poisonous chemicals, that slowly infected her thoughts.

With no shelters or government aid within 100 miles of her, nicole was too afraid to go outside of orange county. If being homeless in orange county was dangerous, being homeless further away, was lethal.

POV mom...

***

May 2013

"You need to sign a will. You...."

"Shut it sis! Can't you see you're upsetting her? I'm trying to keep things positive and here you are talking about death. She's young, she'll make it if we help her."

A glance back at their mother and Nicole's heart sank as the look on her mother's face said it all. 

"Ni...ni...." her mother tried to speak but couldn't. The makeshift jaw wouldn't respond so she pointed to her tablet in the kitchen.

Nicole grabbed it and brought it to the table. Farideh furiously typed out her frustrations and though nicole was yet to read it, she didnt need to. 

Her mother's eyes told her everything. They where filled with pain that was stronger then the physical pain she suffered through every waking moment.

The pain of betrayal had hurt her were even the cancer could not reach...her soul.

Once she finished typing, she handed the tablet over to nicole, who read it out loud to Nissan. 

"Are you trying to kill me? God dammit, you're just like your father, negative and depressing. I'm fighting against death and you're talking about death. You really hate your mother that much?"

She watched as nayssan rolled her eyes and sighed. 

"Dammit sis, common, you know better. She has had a terrible life. It won't end like this. Fate isnt that cruel. She won't need some stupid will. It won't end like this."

POV: it won't. It cant. Mom is too strong to go down like this. 

She took her mother's weak but strangely strong grip and held it tight, feeling the warmth she felt as a child but also, a weakness she had never known.

She feared her mother for so long, that she had forgotten how it felt to hold the hand of the mother she loved.

***

December 2015

She rummaged through a trash can near a restaurant. Disgusted by what she had to do, she pulled the hood of her jacket far enough to cover her eyes, hoping nobody would recognize her.

The smell coming from the trash can was almost as bad as the scent of death that had at one point, made it clear that nicole was face to face with the reaper himself. Now it was clear, that she was face to face with nausea instead. 

Trying to hold her gorge while she looked for an intact and safe to eat something, was like trying to...

"Do you have a smoke?" The voice from behind her was raspy and tired, but also cold and dangerous.

Shivers of distress rippled through her body like ripples in a pond invaded by a rock thrown by a child.

POV my little ninja, are you gonna be scared of some loser who can't even talk because of his rotting lunges? Your ol mom wasn't afraid. Face him kiddo. Stand up and hold your ground.

Nicole turned to face a tall black man with 1 hand in his pocket and another holding a bottle of...his face was hidden by the shadow his hat cast across his face. 

POV whisky... that shit stinks like hell. How does anyone drink it? 

"Sorry sir, I have none. I don't smoke."

She began to back away when he got closer. "You a cute thing. How about you and I hook up?"

"I'm too young for you s-s-s-sir." She tried to run but right behind her was another man. A white man who's breath wreaked of alchohol as well and this man was focused on her lower extremities.

POV dammit....

***

Present day

An explosion startled her awake at the same time as it threw her hard into a nearby wall.

POV what's going on? Where....

Somehow, throughout the deafening sound, she heard herself cry out "mom!" But no face came up in her imagination. A blank black slate was all she could see in her mind's eye.

POV fuck! What's happening? How did I get here?...wait....how did I get here? Where is this? I can't remember what I was doing before waking up....

That one wall she was thrown against, stood alone as the rest of the building was reduced to rubble. The night sky was slowly exposing itself as the smoke from the crumbling shadows, began to slowly clear.

POV how am I not dead? Someone up there really likes me or is playing a long game of cat and mouse with me.

It was too dark to tell what this building had once been but at that moment, she was just thankful to be alive.

She felt her body for injuries but felt something else instead. Fur.


	3. Nature vs Nurture

Present day

The sky above was littered with stars but it wasn't black like she knew it should be. It was a mix between red and tan. 

POV beige?

In the distance, across a body of water that was alive with the reflection of city lights, another world called to her.

POV I must be dreaming...who stands naked and covered in fur, on some small island in the middle of nowhere? 

Though the darkness covered most details, she could see her body was different and felt different to. Around her, outside of the building wreckage, nothing else existed but sand.

For moment, she recalled the pink floyd song, on an island, as she walked about and took in her unusual predicament.

The wind blew fast but she didn't feel much of it. The fur on her body was enough to keep her naked body, isolated from the cold, but the presence of fur still disturbed her. 

It left questions she didnty want to think about.

POV I'm naked and covered in fur. I don't get it. I was....I was....where was I before this? I remember an...

***  
December 2018

"You won't feel anything young lady. We are just testing a new serum that we hope, will help prevent most, if not, all diseases, and we need test subjects we can monitor over a few years."

"What if there are side effects?"

"There won't be. It will either work or it won't. Lay down, relax. You'll fall asleep and when you wake, you won't know it, but you'll be filled with thousands of little organic nano machines, quietly and gently, patrolling your body, always seeking out issues like cancer cells, viruses and more."

"Well...as long as I can help. If only you guys came sooner. I lost my mom to cancer."

"I'm sorry young lady. With how young you are, she must have been young herself. Too young to have suffered. But you can help others like your mother, survive and thrive. Through you, we hope to learn so much."

"Well...I'll see you on the other side...I guess."

She felt uneasy about the whole thing but, being paid to be a part of science, and the future, was better then being homeless and unwanted.

A mask was placed on her face and for a second, she thought about quiting and leaving. The feeling passed when whatever she was now breathing, began to calm her.

"Hey, brian, get the...hand me...tell na..."

Her eyelids became heavy as she felt herself drift into the dark...with the name Brian repeating over and over, even in oblivion where she expected nothing.

POV Brian...Brian...Brian...  
Na...na...na...not her...wait...stop the experiment...not...why can't I feel my body?

***

Present day

She turned back to the ruins of the building and realised, she could smell gas. 

POV propane? Butane!? I was homeless, but I was in santa ana. Where is this?

The sound of a motorboat caught her attention but when she turned, expecting to see a police boat or something like that, she saw nothing more then a small vessel somewhere in the distance, slowly heading her way.

POV it sounded so close but it's so far...

Cupping her hands to her mouth, she yelled "Help!" And immediately recoiled in shock at the sight of her hands....no....not hands. They where paws. Paws with finger like something. 

"What the fuck happened to me?!" 

As the boat came closer, she ran and hid amongst the rubble. It pulled to a small dock and a man came out, talking to himself as if he was an actor being filmed during a monologue.

His flashlight came her way but didn't stop as he surveyed the environment.

"It's facility 6b. The abandoned one. All power and gas should have been at a minimum. Why on earth would it explode? Nobody around here."

A badge on his chest was sitting alone with no gun on his waist. He was a security guard and nothing more. 

Seeing an opportunity when his back was turned, she leapt from her hiding spot and before he could react, she put a paw around his mouth from behind and felt her claws touch his skin.

POV claws too???

Her other paw was quick to wrap around his throat. 

Hold your ridge hand firmly around the throat or your opponent will pull away...

She squeezed tighter when she heard her legendary uncle jack in her head.

"Don't move or I'll slice you like an onion. I'm going to remove my hand from your mouth but you better behave yourself. Tap on my leg if you agree."

Within a few seconds, she felt a gentle tap on her bare leg. She gently removed her paw from his mouth but kept the other around his throat but decided to dig her fingers deeper into his neck for better control.

Through her extended claws, she felt his pulse and felt for a moment, just a mere moment, like some benevolent diety, ready to cut the the thread of life without any regards to the man himself.

"What's the date?"

"September 3rd. 2038. Look, I won't hurt you. Please just..."

"Shut up!" She cut him off but felt bad as his pulse was racing and a smell like she had never smelled before in her life, was filling the air like...like...

POV am I smelling his fear? Like...his hormones? Fucking hell, I'm some kind of....

In a panic, she let go of the man and watched as his hand began to drift towards his waist as he turned towards her. 

Without waiting for a hidden gun, she leapt faster then he could react and pinned him to the ground.

"Where am I?! Last chance!"

"A small island, just a few minutes by boat from Laguna beach. This is a private island, owned by Surrogate Senel. You're trespassing."

"Listen pal, I'm going to let you go but...wait, 2038?!"

"Yes. 20 years now since you abominations where let loose on the world. This country was a much better place before you came along. You are all just..."

She didn't let him finish. A swift punch to his temple silenced the man.

She got up and looked down at the unconscious security guard. She remembered the slander she had heard all her life since she was old enough to go to school. This man was one of them...Jason Gentry his badge read. 

"One of many who tormented me growing up. Ya, people don't forget their abusers even if you dont recognize me now. Well, you ain't so tough now you racist bastard. I'm just gonna borrow your boat."

Your temper is a fossil of the old you. The old you died when you became my disciple. I don't expect you to forgive him. I just want you to be the bigger person and let it all go. 

POV you taught me better uncle. I'm sorry. I messed up. 

Inside the small boat was a backpack that contained his civilian clothes. A quick sniff revealed a very pleasant detergent. 

"This will do. For now." 

A rear view mirror just above the backpack, caught her attention.

A glance at the rear view mirror revealed her very animal like features. At this point, she wasn't surprised to see her beautiful 19 year old face had features nobody in her family handed down. 

Her ears where now long and moved. Her eyes where like that of a cat. And though the rest of her face was still human, below her neck, resembled mostly, a fox.

But then, even her facial structure was not fully human. Something was off....

She expected to be cowering in a corner somewhere or panicking at the sheer insanity of all this but, probably having been on the streets for several years, and that bloody night....had given her some strength against the unusual. 

Answers didn't come to those who waited. Once dressed, she started the boat up and crossed her fingers.


	4. Mason

Present Day

She cut the engine and the boat slowly floated towards an old wooden pier. Having never been on a boat before, the random ups and downs made her kinda sick. At least, she didn't think she had ever been on a boat before. Her thoughts were oddly foggy, as if she was a sweatshirt with a few small holes in it. 

POV I need to find uncle jack. He's in...irvine....the dojo....irvine...where is irvine...I should know...

She remembered her mother bringing her to the beach as a child but she also remembered a boat. But how the boat fit into her past, was a blur. 

She rolled up her pants, once again exposing her more animal like legs. 

Examining her legs, she realized her heals didn't touch the ground at all. So how did she walk so well like this when such a way of walking was not normal human behavior? 

Once close enough, she lept into the knee deep water and walked onto the cool sandy shore. The beach was nearly deserted and so was the main street parralel to the beach. 

After a few seconds of walking, the street signs came into view belong a broken traffic light that stuttered on and off like a badly timed concert light. 

Pov main beach? Wonder how many people get seizures from that stupid light... Wait, main beach? As in...Laguna beach? But the lab was in Irvine.... 

She stopped and looked around. If this wasn't laguna Beach, they sure had the details rights.   
She saw herself as a teen, pushing a twin stroller to the art galleries who's lights where now off. 

Across the street, she saw herself once more, holding the hands of a set of twins, taking them to the now closed, main beach museum. 

Pov the twins... Why am I remembering them now after all these years... What where their names again? 

Pey.... Pey... Ro.... The names where the black void that should have been the sky. Above her, the sky remained as unusual as when she first glimpsed it. That's all that was missing from laguna, the star studded black sky she would lay beneath with the twins as they napped on the beach on saturday nights. 

***

"stay here, I'll be back." the terminator walked slowly towards the swat team, with every step being greeted by a bullet in his chest. But nothing slowed the juggernaut. 

Each step he took, the terminator was slightly pushed back by each bullet and... 

Ding! 

Pov dammit

He blinked and the movie dissolved to the 76 lobby, where from across the counter, he saw an old man with a dirty sweatshirt walk in. 

His chair was an old office chair that creeked below his skinny 22 year old body, as if he weighed a ton and it was protesting. 

"sir, I've told you before, you can't just come in here and use the bathroom. It's for paying costumers."

He got off his chair just as the man turned towards him, smiling and exposing his decaying teeth.

Pov if I ever end up like this, please kill me God or whoever is listening. 

"I'm just going to the drinking fountain... " the old man said in a flat tone. His voice cracked and broke multiple times as age and drugs had aged his voice much faster then his greying long beard aged his face. 

Pov I hate the graveyard shift. I can still smell the stink of whatever he's been smoking... Really hate the...

Ding!

Pov dammit, just go away.... 

A girl with her pants rolled up to her knees and no shoes on, walked into the lobby. 

"hi! " he said and waved towards the girl who walked up to the counter, looking like she was lost in a whole other world.

Expecting to hear her speak, he saw her open her mouth and then stop, maybe unsure of what to say. With just a simple shirt and jeans, and her legs still wet from the water, Mason assumed she must have gone for a late night dip.

***

POV I'm a fox thing walking right up to someone as if this is normal. The hell is wrong with me? Why am I not running and hiding somewhere?! I should be panicking and scared but....shouldn't he be scared? Wait, why didn't the guard acknowledge me as this thing?

POV irvine....

***

"name's Mason. What can I do for you? By the way, that's a nice surrogate. Love the way your paws have fingers."

She looked down at her paws and back at him, a confused but also frustrated look on her face, with a touch loneliness, took away some of her beauty. 

"surrogate?" she asked, sounding and looking surprised. Mason had not seen such a reaction out of anyone since he was a child and surrogates where first introduced. 

Pov she must have a signal issue...or she's just... 

"want anything? A drink perhaps?"

She seamed unsure of what to say or ask. She looked around slowly, taking in what she saw as if she had never been in a gas station market. 

"I need to get to Irvine. But I'm not sure which way it is." she said nervously. 

Pov this is odd.... 

She seamed afraid to talk too much, which seamed odd since she was also bare footed and a quick glance at the parking lot camera, revealed no car that she could have come in. 

"Irvine huh? Just go up the street and you'll hit Irvine. You can't miss it. Trust me."

"how far?" 

Pov she should have network access as all surrogates do. What the hell... 

"um... 5 to 7 miles more or less."

"shit, that's a lot to walk." she said to herself. 

"walk? Are you nuts? Is your car broken or something? I can help you fix it. It's probably just a software update. Unless you have one of those old ones that you have to drive. I don't know squat about those."

"I'm...." she paused which worried him more as he began to fear that this was a hijacked surrogate. The network was safe and secure but it wasn't unhackable. Nothing was. 

He recalled hearing reports about someone who successfully managed to hack a surrogate last week and.... Was this the stolen surrogate? 

Is that why she was acting so... Unusual? 

"give me the bitch or I shoot." came the voice of the junkie who he had forgotten about. 

They both turned to see the old man, holding a small gun. "come with me little lady or the boy gets it." he said calmly. 

He lifted the gun and aimed it at Mason. 

***

She looked back and forth between Mason and the man behind her. If she resisted, the boy would be killed. If she went with the man, she might be used and abused, and then killed. 

Pov fuck. What do I do? 

"now!" the man yelled and shot the cash register, making Mason jump back in surprise. 

"I'll come, just please don't hurt him." she tried to stay calm but she could feel her blood pressure rising. 

Pov if I fail... Like I failed mom.... 

August 2015:

With her mother in her arms, she cried out for help but there was no response. It was as if, the neighborhood consisted of nothing more then the 2 of them and empty houses. 

"mom, hold on!"

There was no sign of the ambulance yet and the blood was pouring from her mouth. She couldn't cover her mother's mouth and she couldn't close the wound.

All she could do was keep her mother's head sideways, so the woman would not choke on her own blood. 

She herself was covered in blood and panic was making her want to run away, hide and cry.


	5. Swift

A man walked in and everyone turned towards him just as he paused in the doorway. 

POV shit. This just got more complicated. I swear.....

"Get down you bastard or you're dead." The old junkie yelled as he swung his gun around to the defenseless man.

He was an average man, of average height and of average clothing. Clearly he was no threat to anyone unless a lack of fashion was threatening. But the junkie thought otherwise.

The man nodded and the junkie watched as the man began to lay down.

Before the junkie could turn back to his original focus, she leapt towards him and deflected his gun holding arm.

She was quick to grab his hand and pulled the gun away, causing the man to crumble to the floor, screaming as his trigger finger broke in the process of being disarmed.

"Get on your knees and stay down!" She yelled as she held the gun on the screaming man. He got down on his knees, the look of pain suddenly froze on his face as a bullet tore through his head.

The gun dropped from her paw as fear hit her like an out of control truck. She turned in surprise to the man at the doorway. He held a gun out and then turned it on her.

He smiled but had no warmth in his face. His focus was on her and her alone. 

"You're as fast as you're said to be. Step outside with me and don't you dare make a move. Try for the fallen gun and you're dead."

POV this is too much. 

She looked to mason who was frozen. Afraid to move and afraid to react, he stood quietly, but the smell of fear she smelled on the security guard, was absent on mason.

He wasn't afraid. He was....just motionless. Hands up and still like a statue. His eyes following the action, were all thet gave away the fact that he wasn't a statue.

"what do you want? You want what the junkie wanted?"

"Been paid to pick you up. Bring you back to her. I don't know who that bum was."

"Her who?"

His smile faded. "Don't do this kid. You are fast, but you can't dodge a bullet. Out now. I don't want to have to shoot."

She glanced around for anything that could help her but with the man just out of her range, she couldn't risk trying to attack or grab something to fight with. 

A bullet would surely take her down.

***

POV I've never seen a surrogate move like that. The way she disarmed him was, unreal. 

Whatever car the gun man came from, it wasn't visible through the door.

The world switched, between the lobby from which this unusual night was unfolding, to his car where he sat.

He saw her fallow the man out the door and knew, he had only moments to do something before it was too late.

POV why do I suddenly care? I don't know her and she could be a trouble maker. 

His heart told him otherwise. His mother had taken a risk with him. Now his heart told him he had to do something.

From inside his car that was far from the front door, he saw an old car at a distance. It was at the end of the parking lot, where he knew security cameras werent installed. That's where he figured the girl was being taken.

Thanks to this body's superior night vision, the shadowy area where the car was parked, couldn't hide its pre AI origin, though he couldn't tell how far back it went. Long before his birth for sure.

He got out of the car and closed the little toyota door behind him. Then he turned and quickly ran to a ladder behind the store, trying his best to move fast and not attract attention to himself.

Halfway up, he stopped as his is vision shifted back to the store where he tried to ignore the dead junkie, his gag reflex kicking in at the scent of blood and urine from the man losing control of his bladder upon death.

Mason pressed a hidden alarm button under the counter, knowing that the police would come in a few minutes. Then his vision shifted back to the ladder.

Once at the top, a quick sprint to the other side of the roof, revealed the girl being walked to the old car. 

The gun was aimed at her head, just far enough where she couldn't disarm the man, and close enough where she couldn't escape without being shot.

He watched as she made a mad dash away from the gunman and into the night. He heard a shot and watched her stumble, before getting back up and running.

The car started up and gave chase.

POV shit.

The dark night became the store again and mason waited for the police, who came just soon after the gunman had driven after the girl.

Mason explained the situation and his role within it.   
"I'm pretty shaken up. My father owns this location. After I call him, can I go into my car? Please?"

Maybe it was his scrawny body or his trembling voice, but the police allowed him to sit in his car. Once making sure his father was on the way, mason went out to his car. The world shifted back to the rooftop where he watched the Laguna beach businesses and homes. 

In this body, he owned the night. He leapt from rooftop to rooftop, following the direction he had seen the girl go. 

Assuming she would try and hide from her pursuers, he went from alley to alley, assuming that she wouldn't get far with her injuries. 

But a few homeless people was all he spotted when he looked down between the buildings. But then, Laguna was a big and complicated place. She could be anywhere. 

He ran for nearly an hour before stopping and sitting on a nearby bus bench. 

POV dammit. Where the hell could she be? I saw her get shot. She can't be far. Maybe...

His thoughts where cut off by the sound of breaking glass. It was a soft sound, as she probably covered her paw with her shirt before breaking the glass. Most likely on the hunt for medical aid.

POV where did that sound come from?


End file.
